Category Archives: writing

Yesterday, I put Socially Dead back up. Motley wants to blog again but she wanted a less teenager-y template than Skully. Although she liked Skully, she was tired of the pale blue and pink. So Motley’s back (hasn’t posted yet though) with a new template (Cold Stone, same as I use at Lex Valentine) but those of you who used to visit her will recognize Skully at once.

There’s still some updating of info we need to do (I need to fix my CafePress stuff) but it’s all small stuff at this point. The blog has now been resurrected and hopefully it will have more of a life than her past “I have no life” musings. If you get a chance, cruise on by and take a look at Skully’s – and Motley’s – new home.

I’ve decided I don’t have much of a life either. All I do is work. Work at the office, work at home. Of course, there are days writing is sheer fun and other days when it’s just work. I have a lot of writing ahead of me this year including a resurrection – erm, revision of my five year old Regency manuscript for a contest. Luckily, I only have to fix 30 pages of it for the contest and it doesn’t have to be a completed manuscript. That’s good for me cause the damned thing has no ending. More than 75,000 words and it’s just hanging there waiting for me to finish it. I’m hoping the revision of 30 pages gives me the impetus to finish this sucker.

A bunch of stressful things are going on at home and before you ask…things are fine with Motley and Rott. We’ve just got external stuff happening that is putting a lot of strain on all of us right now. I’m sleeping even worse than usual, but I’m hoping some things that are up in the air at the moment will be resolved in a few days one way or the other. No one’s dying as far as I know so I figure I’ll just bite the bullet and try to deal as best I can and hope for the best cause I guess it could all be worse. (How many cliches did I just slap into a single sentence, eh? LOL)

I’ve got a nice Marcus in his undies here in honor of my friend Sally whom I recently found on Facebook after having lost touch with her more than 20 years ago. She’s a little down in the dumps so I sent her a copy of The Pixie Prince and told her Max the underwear model should make her laugh. Because of Max, I bring you Marcus modeling underwear.

I do love the way he fills out boxer briefs…

On Wicked Wednesday I’ve got a guest blogger talking about vampires so come on back and check it out later this week. I hope you all have a great Monday!

Sometimes I hate the internet. Traffic makes your site bursty and poofta! Your post is gone! Luckily, this time WordPress had it saved. Last time, I wasn’t so lucky.

Anyway, oh, have I got some news for you today! On Tuesday night I got a congratulatory email from the EPIC Awards committee. Both Ride the Lightning and Insolence were chosen as finalists in the EPIC Awards. This is both an honor and a shock! I seriously didn’t think I stood any chance of finaling. After all, the most popular book I wrote (Fire Season) with it’s 12+ stellar reviews, with it’s sales that made me PAN eligible, was passed over last year in the EPIC Awards. If Fire Season – a book beloved by many – couldn’t final how could less popular books I’ve written stand a chance? Yet, there they are. Two EPIC Award finalists. Who woulda thunk it? Wooty Woot!

On the writing front, I’ve finished my dark tale In the Light for the Wishing on a Blue Star anthology for Patric Michael. My editor Kris already has it and we’ve done some edits. It’s about 6500 words of Weylyn Randall. My publisher at Pink Petal Books, who really has the final say over whether I can write about Weylyn for another publisher, gave me the okay to use the horndog werewolf for this anthology that will be published by Dreamspinner Press. And really, it’s for Patric. It’s not about money or rights or anything else. But I thank Mary from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to briefly take Weylyn from his home at PPB for Patric’s book.

Next up is Christmas Wishes and edits for Unbreak Me. In Christmas Wishes you’ll get to find out why Devon’s brother Brad has been partying it up every Christmas in Vegas. If you can’t be with the one you want, then get blitzed in Vegas and forget your broken heart! Christmas Wishes has a Jimmy Thomas cover and since it’s Thursday I should really post a Jimmy image.

GAH! Wouldn’t you like to come home to find that sleeping in YOUR bed? I’d be satisfied just petting him a little. He’s so damned sexy! *fans self* If you want to see more of Jimmy just head over to RNC or Jimmy’s personal site.

Before I head off, I know a lot of you buy your books…and my books *wink* at ebook stores. One of the stores that carries my books is in the process of changing their name and their URL so spread the word and let everyone know so that you don’t miss an opportunity to buy my stuff from them!

Make note of the new URL and check out their new Twitter and Facebook accounts as well! Don’t forget, they have MY books there! 😉

I’m out for this Thursday. It’s a busy day at work for me so just kick back and enjoy the Jimmy alrighty? Have a great day!

This morning I have a bit of a wandering mind. I can’t really focus but then again, it’s not even 6 am yet. 😉 Excuses aside, I suppose the wandering is in part because there’s lots of stuff going on in my world and not because Zombies Ate My Brains. (I love that t-shirt! Go buy one from Dave2! It’s perfect for Halloween.)

I don’t know what it is about the end of the year that sends me into a frenzy when it comes to writing. Perhaps it’s because I got my first contract in October, on the 30th, the day before my birthday. I have so many projects I’m working on with deadlines looming (some with real deadlines and some with self-imposed ones) that it’s a wonder my mind hasn’t wandered away before this!

I have Rock My World and Honorable Silence coming in November. I have Christmas Wishes and Unbreak Me coming in December. Right now, I need to finish my dark tale of the Five Realms for Patric Michael’s Wishing on a Blue Star anthology. Deadline: Nov 1. Next I need to do edits for Unbreak Me which has some world building issues (yes, even I have world building issues sometimes!) Then I need to tap out 10K for Christmas Wishes. After that I have a Quickie sequel to Rock My World to do and I need to get rolling on my Guardians series and then there’s the sequel to Unbreak Me…

You get the picture. Nonstop work. Which is good for me.

Last night I sat down and wrote out the story of how my parents died and how grief had affected me. I had not ever done that before. It was cathartic in some ways. Mostly, I looked at it and went, “Wow. How the hell did I survive?” And the biggest AH HA moment came when I wrote down that grief had affected me to the extent that I hadn’t been able to write fiction for ten years. I still built the worlds and characters in my head, I just could not commit them to paper. I figure I must be okay now cause I can write up a storm these days!

Writing is very personal for me despite it being a business, but on a more personal note, my wandering mind is flitting to the jam packed week ahead. It’s my birthday week. And this is the big bad birthday. The horrid birthday. The one that has the AARP sending me mail. *sigh* Can I just say I’m kind of not looking forward to it? I mean, my birthday hasn’t really meant anything to anyone since my parents died. I realized that last night too as I wrote my grief story. Yeah, that makes me a little pathetic, but what and ever. It’s just how my life is. I don’t know what I’d do if someone made a fuss. Seriously.

Aside from my birthday there’s Halloween and a bunch of promo things I have happening like blog posts and interviews. And I have stuff going on at work that is going to keep me hopping. I have a conference call today for a couple of hours about new cemetery software and how it would affect our current customizations… blah blah stuff to the rest of you.

I have a new group blog I’ll be writing at every other Tuesday until the end of the year. Castles and Guns is a dark fantasy blog and right now I’ve only got the two fantasy stories (Ain’t Nuthin’ But a Hellhound in Weirdly III and my urban fantasy/paranormal Where There’s Smoke) but Unbreak Me is more urban fantasy than paranormal and In the Light (for Wishing on a Blue Star) is definitely a dark tale with a fantasy feel even though Weylyn Randall is in it. And how I managed to write anything about Weylyn and not have a sex scene is amazing.

Lots of stuff happening in my world right now. I made two new covers for Pink Petal Books and have a third in the works. You can see those over at Winterheart Design. Rott spent some significant time working on my new computer yesterday and I’m thinking the end is in sight soon which means switching over to the Tribal machine and giving the Green Machine to him. I think there’s other stuff going on too but hell if I can remember this early in the morning. Just all kinds of things for my mind to wander back and forth through.

It’s raining again here in SoCal, remnants of a typhoon according to my Weather Channel desktop icon. So I think another wet Marcus is in order. I know it’s a repeat from more than a year ago but it sure is worth repeating.

I’ll be doing my first blogging at Castles and Guns on the 2nd so make sure you check it out and see what I have to say on my first day there. If you’re in one of the rainy areas today, try to stay dry. I’ll see you back here on Thursday for some Jimmy Thomas!

Before I show you a Jimmy on this lovely Thursday before a four day weekend for me…I have news! I have a release date for my Ellora’s Cave book Rock My World. If you like, you can click the linky and go see it’s page. It feels pretty freaking odd to see my pen name up on that site. And if you can’t tell…I’m decidedly nervous about my debut there. I’m worried about doing well. I’m having…performance anxiety!

Well, before I chew my nails to nubs, let me get you a glorious Jimmy. This cover is a mockup. See the watermarks? I haven’t had time to make the full sized one to send to my publisher yet. I’ve been busy writing and and doing other covers. But I can’t wait until this one is done. It promises to be a really gorgeous cover. Jimmy looks perfect for werewolf Ruan McCallan who leaves his home in the Scottish highlands to chase after his runaway dragon wife Diandra who has gone home to California and her family.

For another does of me and to find out how I got an elbow to the eye check out my Flirty Author Bitches post today. Hope you enjoyed this week’s cover even if it does have watermarks! Have a simply wonderful Thursday!

I received my round two edits on Rock My World so I thought I’d post the song I heard over and over in my head as I wrote this novella. This Tuesday Tune is for Sin and Gia, the main characters in my book.